Another card I was asked to review is a pretty good character, although he's fairly easy to kill.
Thodon # Character # Warrior/Diplomat Man # 2 MP # 6 Mind # 3 DI # 5/6 #
Home Site: Edoras
Unique. +2 direct influence against the Riders of Rohan faction.
Theodon can be a valuable addition to a starting company, as he is a capable warrior as well as a good faction influencer. He is, however, a bit fragile.
There's really not too much depth to this card. His mind of 6 is fairly good, especially since he gives you 3 DI, which is as much as Aragorn. This 2:1 mind to DI ratio is equalled only by a few characters. On top of the 3 he gets an additional +2 for Riders of Rohan, making him roll above a four. Both he and the Riders are played at Edoras, which is a pretty safe site (free hold in a border-land), which can be very useful in an Aragorn deck or in another deck that avoids the wilderness (Gap of Isen/Edoras/Anorien/Mouths of the Anduin/Gondor). He's also worth 2 MPs, which means you can pop him in and by the end of the turn have 5 MPs.
Theodon's main drawback is that 6 body, something that makes me not as willing to play mostly-man decks. Thus, if you start with him, he may need a Shield of Iron-bound Ash. If you get a chance later on, Great Shield of Rohan seems to fit well, but armor like The Mithril Coat (or Hauberk of Mail if you're playing sealed deck/don't want Greater items). Or hey, if you have Three Golden Hairs, Free To Chose, etc., you could give him The One Ring, boosting his stats to 10/10 with 8 DI (and 7 corruption...).
One card you might consider instead of Thedon is Dain II. Dain, for the cost of one higher mind, has two higher body, +2 prowess vs. orcs, and +1 vs. man and man factions (making it almost as easy to influence the riders). However, Theodon's a lot easier to pull in a sealed deck, and he can be a pretty effective fighter, especially if you can keep him from failing a body check.
| Ratings for Theodon: | |
|---|---|
| Isildur: | 6.7 |
| Frodo: | 8.0 |
| Bandobras Took: | 8.0 |
| Cirdan: | 6.5 |
| Alatar: | 6.0 |
| Fingolfin: | 6.5 |
| Legolas: | 6.5 |
| Samwise: | 7.9 |
| Gandalf: | 6.0 |
| Farmer Maggot: | 8.5 |
| Strider: | 4.0 |
| Beorn: | 6.5 |
| Merry: | 7.0 |
| Wormtongue: | 7.0 |
| Average: | 6.8 |
Card names and text copyright 1996 by Iron Crown Enterprises, all rights reserved. This document copyright 1996 by Trevor Stone. Permission given to duplicate so long as no profit is made and the copyright notice is kept in tact, blah, blah, blah.